Hikari 5: End of the Beginning
by Riku no kage
Summary: Mary Sue. OOC. Hormonal teenage girl with no concept of story, plot, or character development as author. Written when I was in high school. Don't read unless you want to see how much my writing style has changed/how much I sucked.
1. Prologue

Prologue

A/N: Hey, welcome to Book 5! Freaky, huh? I mean, considering how many of my commitments rarely get past planning, this is pretty good for me! This chapter is basically just a prologue to the rest of the actual fic, so you don't have to read it unless you want to see my absolutelly horrid summary skills. ;P Anyway, go ahead and read this if you forgot what all happened in Memories Forming, New World, Brother My Brother, and "Whisper," or just go read those if you have enough time and patience on your hands.

* * *

Hello there! My name is Jimminy Cricket. It's been about a year since Sora, Kairi, and Riku were reunited with each other and returned to their home. However, there was one person left out of my journal, and I feel so guilty about neglecting her. I'm writing now to fix that little oversight. She doesn't seem to mind, though. In fact, when I told her about my omission, she merely laughed and said "Well that doesn't surprise me! I'm not that memorable a person!"

Riku, giving her a light kiss on the cheek, protested this remark by pointing out all the people he had met that cared about her, himself foremost on the list. I will definitelly be there to chronicle their wedding!

But back to the original purpose of this entry in my journal, I'm going to recount as much of what had happened as she is letting me read from a chronicle a friend of hers is currently working on.

About a year before the Destiny Islands were attacked by the Heartless, Riku, Sora, and Kairi were engaged in their own games, when someone spotted a person clinging to a piece of flotsam out in the sea. Despite the fact that he thought Sora would prefer the role of hero, Riku dove in after this person, and with much effort due to a cleverly concealed, heavy metal breastplate, managed to drag this person back onto land. After a moment, it became clear that CPR would be neaded, and barely even thinking of his actions, Riku did the necessary procedure. The young girl regained enough conciousness to cough up the seawater she had accidentally inhaled, then promptly passed out again. When the doctor finally showed up, he instructed all of the kids in seeing to the girl's comfort and care, and when he was satisfied that she would live, left her alone to sleep off her exhaustion, leaving Riku to watch over her.

When the girl woke up, she was mildly surprised to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. Soon, though, she informed Riku, who had been watching her nonstop, that she had no memory of her past, not even her name. Riku expressed sympathy for her in a rare act of kindness, and told her not to worry. If they had to, he was certain he and his friends could help her remember, and at the same time, they could help her make new memories right there on the islands. She smiled at his sincerity, and thanked him for his concern. After a moment, Riku left to get her some food and clothes.

Over the course of the next year, the girl would experience a precious few sparks of recollection, but never enough to be called actual memories. She was also bestowed with a name: Riku no Kage, or Riku's Shadow. Everyone called her either Kage or Shadow for short.

Some of those sparks she had came to her only in her nightmares, which she unfortunatelly had plenty of. She would wake up from those shaking and sweating, and only after talking about them with Riku could she calm down. No one else was ever around when one of these nightmares struck, so Riku was the only one who ever knew about them. Unfortunatelly, too soon her nightmares would become all too real.

The islands were attacked the night before a planned departure from them by a raft she, Riku, Sora, and Kairi had been working on, and when Kage saw the storm raging, she immediatelly headed for the smaller island with the paopu trees that Riku had favored. There, she saw Sora and Riku, both surrounded by a thick black miasma that she recognized from a recent nightmare. Her first reaction was: "No... No, it's happening again!"

She ran straight into the miasma, and grabbed Riku's hand. He pulled her in close, and together, they waited for Sora to grab Riku's other hand as well, but she soon noticed that neither boy was moving at all. She barely managed to get out a scream when the darkness swallowed her and Riku whole.

She woke to find herself in a strange town, with all of her memories of the past year thankfully intact. Deciding to explore a little and find out where she had landed, she was soon ambushed by a pack of Heartless. Fortunatelly, she was rescued by a man wielding a Gunblade and calling himself Leon. She immediatelly knew that this was not the man's real name, as she recognized him somehow, and when she confronted him about it, he told her that his name was in truth Squall Leonhart. Kage began to feel sick, and she excused herself quickly.

She managed to compose herself in relatively short order, and when she next saw Leon, he was facing off against Sora. After that little scuffle, she met a young woman named Yuffie, whom she also recognized, but managed to keep herself in enough control to demand to know what was going on. Leon agreed to inform her of the situation, as soon as Sora woke up from his little nap.

After being briefed on the actions taken by the Heartless, Kage managed to appropriate a Gummi ship from a man named Cid Highwind, who owned the Accessory shop in Traverse Town, the world she now found herself in. Saying a chearful farewell to Sora and his new companions, Donald Duck and Goofy, Kage took off, exploring worlds on her own.

She eventually came to the Olympus Coliseum in the middle of a "training" session the satyr, Philoctetes, had put Sora through. She even stuck around to watch the Preliminaries for a tournament Phil was having, and there she met up with a man named Cloud Strife. She never got a good enough look at his face to know why she recognized him, or why she had such strong feelings for him, but when she overheard Cloud speaking with Hades, a remark that Hades made about the ex-SOLDIER set her anger mounting.

Not being able to do anything about her strong feelings towards this man, Kage decided to watch the matches and not worry about it. However, when Sora and Cloud went up against each other, she had a hard time not rooting for Cloud. When Cerberus attacked, she pulled out a pair of twin jeweled daggers Leon and the gang had given her, and helped Sora in the fight. Afterwards, when Sora left the Coliseum, Kage was about to follow when she and Cloud crossed paths.

As soon as she managed to look into Cloud's strangely glowing blue eyes, her memories came rushing back to her with the force of a tidal wave. Deciding to pull a slight prank to help spark Cloud's memory as well, Mizu--for that was her true name--slipped her hand into Cloud's pocket, and he immediatelly reacked back and grabbed her by the wrist. Mizu's only reaction was a grin as she said, calmly: "Let go of me, you spikey-haired jerk."

Cloud, though suprised to see her, immediatelly scooped Mizu into a crushing hug that she returned, both laughing and exclaiming that they had missed each other. Mizu then introduced Cloud to Sora as her big brother, even though the two weren't related by blood. They had sworn an oath of brotherhood nine years ago with each other. Mizu then asked Sora to share the same oath with her, which he readily agreed to.

She and Sora went their separate ways again, each agreeing to check in with each other on a regular basis at Traverse Town. Durring one such meeting, they ran into Riku, who immediatelly resented the fact that Sora had made new friends. When Mizu caught him with Maleficent, she jumped between the two and attacked the witch, telling Riku to leave. He refused, however, and Mizu dropped her guard in suprise just enough for Maleficent to knock her out. When she came to, the witch was gone, and Riku was holding her gently in his arms.

After some discussion, Mizu managed to convince Riku to join her and Cloud in looking for Kairi. Hesitant at first, Riku soon came to accept Cloud as a friend, and as Mizu's brother, and Cloud learned to appreciate Riku's tight bond with Mizu.

The trio landed on another world, and Mizu taught Riku the fundamentals of tracking in a forest. After spotting a young buck with his doe and faun, Riku soon caught on to the lessons, and they made it to the town a mile in from the treeline by sundown. There, they questioned the merchants, and when that pulled up severely limited results, resigned themselves to staying another night so Mizu could interrogate the rif-raf of the town as to Kairi's whereabouts. Street rats were well informed, after all.

Noon at the inn on the first day in town, the group met with a friend of Cloud's quite by accident. In fact, Serenity was the one who snuck up on them and began berrating Cloud for leaving her without any notice. When she learned of the group's quest, however, she asked to help them and was readily welcomed.

Unfortunatelly, the next day split Mizu from Riku yet again.

Shortly after meeting Serenity, the group had run into Hades, who had been sent out by Maleficent to find Riku and bring him back to Hollow Bastion. However, Riku had refused, and Hades was forced to take extreme measures. While Mizu was out gathering information the second day, Riku had gone up to their room to pace away his worry in peace, and eventually fell asleep. That was when Hades came in and kidnapped him. When Mizu returned, she was fairly upset at finding Riku gone and a Heartless in her room.

A couple nights later, after being drugged to sleep by Cloud and Serenity, Mizu's heart called out to Riku, and the pair of them had a conversation that neither could remember. Soon after, Mizu had a nightmare and somehow dragged Riku into it. When she woke up, she vomited over the side of her bed, and in a rare moment of weakness, fell asleep in Cloud's comforting arms.

Now, Mizu, Cloud, and Serenity are off looking for Riku and Kairi again...


	2. Collisions

A/N: Okay, except for the Prologue, this fic is also going to be mostly in Riku's POV, like "Whisper" was. As usual, I'll try my best not to get anyone too OOC, but I can't guarantee anything. I'm planning on this being the final fic in the series dealing with the original _Kingdom Hearts_, but there will be fics for _Chain of Memories_ and_ KH2_. Just so you're warned. I will also be doing a compilation fic called "Hikari", so be expecting that at some point. There will also be random crossovers here and there, so watch out for those, too!

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sora demanded of the puppet, anger slightly tinting the young boy's voice. "Come on, let's go back." 

"You know," Sora's friend, Goofy, said in a paternal sort of voice, "Geppetto's awfully worried about you."

"Pinocchio," Sora said, his impatience mounting and obvious, "stop fooling around! This is no time for games!"

"But Sora," Riku said teasingly, stepping up behind the puppet, grinning mockingly at his former best friend, "I thought you liked games. Or are you to cool to play them, now that you have the Keyblade?"

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, his surprise as evident as his annoyance was a moment ago. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Just playing with Pinocchio," Riku replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You know what I mean!" Sora exclaimed, his voice now carrying a hint of desperation. "What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

"Maybe," Riku answered scornfully. "Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"Come on!" Sora snapped, sounding angry yet again. Riku decided not to push Sora any further, and so grabbed Pinocchio by the arm and ran to a different chamber in the giant whale.

"Why do you still care about that boy?" Maleficent asked when he got to the chamber she had been waiting for him in. "He has all but abandoned you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all."

"I don't care about him," Riku retorted. He was getting more and more snappy with her every day, but that was probably due to his severe lack of sleep lately. He kept waking up from nightmares he knew weren't coming from his own mind, but he couldn't ever remember them or who they were coming from. "I was just messing with him a little," he continued, not wanting to dwell on the dreams.

"Oh, really?" Maleficent asked, making it quite evident that she didn't believe him one bit. "Of course you were." Sarcasm dripped from her voice far more often and thickly than it did from Riku's, and it was starting to get on his already too-tight nerves. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it."

"Mind your own business," Riku growled, glaring at the witch. Maleficent shrugged and left through a portal of darkness. Riku didn't have to strain to figure out where she had retreated to. He watched as Sora and the other two chased after Pinocchio into the chamber, and his lip curled in contempt as it did so often lately.

"Riku!" Sora called upon seeing him. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realise what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora," Riku sneered. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?"

"I do," Sora said, though he hung his head slightly and his voice was quiet as he said it. Riku snorted, then they all heard Pinocchio's scream. Before he realised what he was doing, Riku had followed that scream to Monstro's bowels (he tried not to think about that. He lost enough of his food after the nightmares as it was), and there, he, Sora, and Sora's friends saw the puppet trapped by a Heartless.

"You up for this?" Riku asked, and knowing the answer before Sora could give it.

"No problem," Sora replied, his voice filled with self-assured arrogance. "Let's do it!"

"Hmph," was Riku's only reply before they attacked. Together, they managed to bash the Parasite Cage up enough that it spat Pinocchio out and down a pit, and Riku jumped in after the puppet. He knelt and scooped Pinocchio up, tucking him under his arm, thankful that the thing wasn't concious to struggle.

"Pinocchio!" Riku heard the old clockmaker, Geppetto, call. He turned back to the old man and scolwed at him, not knowing why he would be so desperate to have back a mere puppet. "Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!"

_Son?_ Riku thought._ It's a puppet. It's not even alive. This old man is going senile._

"Sorry, old man," Riku said, though he in truth didn't really mean it. In fact, he kind of pittied the old coot. "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet!" Geppetto protested. "Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual," Riku replied. "Not many puppets have hearts." Riku looked straight at Sora, who was glaring at him in anger, but there was also a hint of sadness in his blue eyes. "I'm not sure," Riku continued, aiming this remark more at Sora than the old clockmaker, "but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"Wait a minute," Sora exclaimed. "Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?" Riku spat. He left, but not before seeing the look of intense pain crossing Sora's face. Maybe Riku was wrong. Maybe Sora did care about Kairi. But if that was true, he should be out trying to help her like Riku was, not running around showing off his new toy.

Riku went into Monstro's stomach (somewhere in the back of his mind hearing a female voice saying "Oh, great, now you get to be fish food.") and waited for Sora to show up and act the hero again. He didn't have to wait very long.

"Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku," Sora demanded right off the bat. Riku did his best not to laugh.

"A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless... Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi," Riku mused, loud enough for Sora to hear. In fact, he was trying to persuade Sora a little. "How about it, Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together."

Much to Riku's surprise and slight dismay (how thick could this kid be?), Sora pulled out his Keyblade and took a fighting stance, telling Riku with his body language that he was going to fight.

"What?" Riku said, barely containing a contemptuous laugh. "You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart," Sora growled, "at least he still has a concience."

"Concience?" Riku scoffed.

"You might not hear it, but right now mine's loud and clear," Sora said, then tightened his grip on the Keyblade's hilt. "And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice," Riku said, ignoring the familiar voice in the back of his head saying "I wasn't gonna tell ya, Riku." Riku sternly told the voice to go burry itself. The voice merely laughed.

"Pinocchio!" the cricket accompanying Sora exclaimed, hopping up and down near the puppet. "Pinocchio!"

"Jiminy," Pinocchio said, barely concious enough to be coherent, "I'm not gonna make it..." There was a slight glow, and Pinocchio's nose lengthened slightly, shocking the puppet into full wakefulness. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "I guess I'm okay!"

The voice in the back of Riku's head sighed in relief, and Riku felt it withdraw suddenly after a slight start of surprise from the other end. He knew he recognized the voice, but it wasn't his own and he couldn't place a name to it.

When Parasite Cage made a dramatic re-entry, dropping from the ceiling to land in a pool of digestive acids, Riku made a break for it through his own portal of darkness.


	3. Plans

A/N: I'm really sorry about the delay, but... Well, there's really no excuse for me this time. I'd already had this chapter typed up when I posted the last one, but I kind of put off posting it. Mostly because it sucked really really bad before I rewrote it, and that took forever because I had already had the next few chapters typed before I decided to redo this one. That, and I had graduation crap to put up with, and then my family and I went up to Colorado for a week. I hope you like the rewritten version of this, because I personally think it's a whole heck of a lot better than the original. ;P

P.S: To the person who has me ranked as a Kingdom Sue, thanks for the free publicity. I worked really hard on Mizu and my fics.

* * *

Riku stared down at his hands, slightly amused that they didn't look any different from the way he remembered them. He certainly _felt_ different, stronger, and more in control of his life and his new-found powers. He didn't entirely trust the darkness he was immersing himself in, but it was the best and only way he knew of to save Kairi. If only that voice in his head would shut up... 

He recognized it, and somewhere deep in his ever-darkening heart, he wanted to hear it again, but it kept getting in the way of his goal. It was an unneeded distraction, and at times seemed to be a bit of a handycap to what he knew he needed to do. But at the same time, he knew that every thing the voice was telling him was absolutelly right. The darkness _was_ going to devour him, he _was_ hurting innocents in his single-minded persuit of Kairi's safety, and he _was_ slowly but surely pushing Sora, his best friend, further and further away, even though their goals were almost exactly the same.

"Sometimes the right thing and the easiest thing aren't always the same," he muttered out loud, quoting something the voice had told him frequently. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared up at the ceiling of the chamber of Monstro's intestines he was in. At least, he _thought_ it was the intestines...

"But how do I know whether or not I _am_ doing the right thing?" he asked the silent room, not expecting an answer. He almost jumped out of his skin when he got one.

"Well, if I knew the answer to _that,_" said the voice that had been in the back of his mind for the past several days, "I wouldn't have made so many fucked up choices."

Riku turned, surprise etched plainly on his face, to see the owner of the voice leaning up against the side of the entry to the chamber, arms crossed over her chest, and green eyes shining with ironic humor. Her lips were slightly quirked up at the corners, not quite a smirk, but close enough.

"Mizu!" Riku exclaimed, surprise warring with elation in his heart. "What're you doing here?"

"A: looking for you," Mizu replied, ticking her points off on her fingers, "but we got here totally on accident. B: looking for replacement Gummi blocks so we can get out of here. C: looking for Sora so he can help look for you, but that's kind of moot now that I actually _have_ found you. And D: looking for Kairi, and getting delayed. You?"

"I'm looking for a way to _help_ Kairi," Riku admitted, almost without thinking.

"Help?" Mizu asked, her smile slipping from her face and her eyebrows drawing down over her nose in a confused frown. "Interesting choice of words, love. What happened?"

"I..." Riku clenched his fists and looked away from Mizu's face, afraid for some reason that when he let her know the truth, she'd be angry with him. He was completelly unwilling to face that anger. "Kairi's lost her heart."

Mizu let off a stream of curses that did quite a nice job of blistering Riku's ears, even though most of them were in a completelly different language.

"...fucking HELL!" Mizu finished, her own hands clenched into fists and her entire body tense with suppressed anger. She slammed one of her fists into the wall right next to her, sending the tissue and muscle of the whale's innards trembling.

"I'm sorry," was all that Riku could think of to say, but he still couldn't look her in the eyes.

"It's not your fault," Mizu said, far more calmly than Riku had expected. "You don't have any reason to be sorry, Riku. But right now, let's just focus on saving her, huh? What's done is done. Dammit."

"I'm already doing everything I can," Riku pointed out, but Mizu just shook her head.

"I know you are, dearest, but a little bit of help can't hurt at all, can it?" she asked calmly, smiling up into his eyes. "I know of about half a dozen people I can threat-- I mean, ask to help."

Riku didn't miss the slip, and knew her well enough to know that she _would_ threaten people into helping if she had to. She could be absolutelly ruthless when she wanted to be.

"Thank you," Riku said, and meaning it.

"Oh, no problem," Mizu said gaily, waving away the thanks. "You know me, always willing to help."

"So long as you get to carve something up in the process," Riku finished for her, a grin on his face that she returned, though hers was positively bloodthirsty.

"Comes with the territory, love. Fightin' dirty's what I was trained for, and that's what I do best."

"I'll believe that," Riku muttered, and Mizu's grin widened.

"Trust me, Riku, no matter what you though you knew of me after spending time with me on the islands, there're a few more, less glamorous sides to me that will have you tossin' and turnin' in your sleep for weeks after learnin' 'em. That's always assumin' you can _get_ to sleep afterwards."

"Tell me later," Riku said, suddenly slightly frightened by the slight, wiry girl in front of him. "We need to come up with a plan first."

"Right," Mizu said, just as suddenly switching from a blood-thirsty savage to a concerned friend. "All I can think of right now is to enlist those friends of mine I told you about. Back a few years ago, we helped a man named Ansem with research on hearts and Heartless." She shook her head slightly, but not as though she were changing her mind about the plan so far. "The memories are kind of hazy; nothing's really clear in them. But I think I remember enough clearly enough that we can find something to help."

"I don't know what to do other than what I've been doing," Riku admitted. Mizu looked up at him with somber eyes, and he looked away. "I know I haven't always been doing the right thing, but I don't know what else to do."

"We need someone on the inside anyway," Mizu muttered, as if to herself. "You're working fairly closely with Maleficent, right?" she asked directly to Riku, a speculative glint in her eye.

"Yeah," Riku confirmed. "Why?"

"I don't trust her," Mizu announced. "Well, we've been through that. If you could somehow get word to us of what she's doing, we could prevent other hearts from being lost, and other worlds from being destroyed. But that's secondary to getting Kairi's heart back. Yeah, you should probably just keep right on with whatever it was you were doing before. Anything else would get the witch suspicious, and that's a distraction we don't need."

"What, you want me to spy?" Riku asked, slightly apalled.

"Subterfuge is something you gotta get used to, Riku," Mizu replied. "It's not all black and white out here, you know. And, as much as I hate to say this, sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good."

Riku opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment, Mizu looked up into his eyes and he saw such a fire in them that the words died on his lips.

"But mark me," she said, her voice steady but intense, "if there is any way to save Kairi, any at all, I will take it. I will do everything I can to save her before I so much as _consider_ leaving her as a casualty." Mizu hung her head, but not before Riku noticed that her eyes had begun to mist over with unshed tears, and what she said next was in a very subdued whisper. "I don't want to go through that pain again..."

_What's she talking about?_ Riku had to wonder. He'd never seen her react so strongly to anything before. Though, granted, he was used to seeing her in the stress-less life on the Destiny Islands. But before he could ask her what was up, she made another abrupt switch.

"So the plan is research on my part, and subterfuge on yours, correct?" she asked.

"I refuse to act as a spy," Riku immediatelly protested.

"Okay, then," Mizu said with a shrug. "You do what you need to, and I'll do what I need to. With any luck we'll be able to pull this off. Thank whatever Gods there are that I've always been extremely lucky."

They spent a little more time on the "plan" before Mizu figured she should get back to Cloud and Serenity and Riku took a portal of darkness back to Hook's ship. Both hoped that the next time they saw each other, it would be time to head back home.

* * *

**__**

PROUD TO BE A KINGDOM-SUE


	4. Confrontations

A/N: Hi, it's me again. Sorry about the delay, I don't really have a good excuse. I haven't been sick or anything, and my computer hasn't died or crashed, so I don't have any reason not to have updated sooner except for the extreme sucky-ness of this chapter and the fact that I've been going to Lord knows how many parties lately. Fortunately, I've managed to avoid getting alcohol-drunk. Drunk on any other substance is always a debatable topic, because I've been known to get drunk on air. Besides, I'm too young to drink. Pity me. Two birthday parties, attempting to plan a For-The-Hell-Of-It party that we had to cancel because the semi-agreed upon date kept changing and getting closer to my graduation party date, a Fourth of July party, and then most of my internet time (remember, I'm only allowed an hour due to the severe lack of decent internet connections, a.k.a. we have dial-up, and one phone line because my parents don't get paid worth shit and I desperately need a job) was devoted to copy-pasting webcomics for a friend that KEEP UPDATING REGULARLY. Yes, if you want something that updates when the fXXXing thing's _supposed _to update, go read webcomics as opposed to my crap. And lastly, severe and total writer's block. Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if I'd need surgery to get rid of the damn thing. I keep asking peope if there are pills for it, but the only definite answer I've gotten on that was "have you tried crack?" No, but I tried sniffing coke once and the icecubes got stuck up my nose. Ha ha, bad joke, I know. And that right there was an example of how completely sucky my fic-writing skills have gotten lately. I DETEST THIS FIC AND DESPERATELY WANT TO MOVE ON TO KH:CoM OR KH2 FICS! But no, I have to be _organized_ and write my fics in _order_ because I'm just a prick like that. Dammit. Anyway, enough of my lame excuses, here's the fic straight from the script I downloaded from the internet and added my own twists to. OMG, I just spilled my secret... Not like you guys couldn't figure it out anyway. Because you just totally rock like that.

* * *

"So, Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?" Riku asked, looking down at the girl, his heart aching for her.

"Precicely," Maleficent replied, though no pity or sorrow was evident in her voice.

"And her heart was..."

"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt."

"Tell me!" Riku exclaimed, rounding on Maleficent with his fists clenched. "What can I do?"

"There are seven maidens with the purest heart," Maleficent explained carefully. "We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart. Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift. The power to control the Heartless."

The witch gestured with her hand, and Riku closed his eyes as his new power flooded through him, heightening and refining the darkness in his heart. When the sensation ebbed, leaving Riku feeling stronger than he had before, he turned towards the bed Kairi was laying on, and made her a promise that he knew she couldn't hear.

"Soon, Kairi. Soon."

* * *

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," said a familiar voice. Sora looked up with a gasp, staring at his best friend in complete surprise, and just a touch of apprehension.

"Good to see you again," Riku continued with a false smile.

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora demanded immediately. Riku had been acting really strange lately, and Sora had no idea what he would do now. He didn't want anything bad to happen to one of his new friends, especially not if Riku was the one hurting them.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku sneered. "More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking..." Riku stepped to the side and indicated an unconcious figure behind him, one Sora immediately recognized, "about her."

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed.

"That's right," Riku drawled in obvious contempt. "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora started to run to Kairi, but an arm blocked his way. Sora looked at the arm in surprise, only to see not a hand, but a hook, and he followed the arm up to the torso and head of Captain Hook, then looked around at the small man and horde of Heartless surrounding him.

"Not so fast," Hook snapped. "No shenanigans on my vessel, boy."

"Riku," Sora asked, trying hard to keep his anger and hurt out of his voice, "why are you siding with the Heartless?"

"The Heartless obey me now, Sora," Riku answered, still with that superior smirk on his face. "Now I have nothing to fear."

"You're stupid," Sora spat. "Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart."

"Not a chance," Riku scoffed. "My heart's too strong."

"Riku," Sora protested, knowing Riku wouldn't listen to him.

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well," Riku bragged. "Like this, for instance." He snapped his fingers, and Sora watched as his shadow appeared before him, wondering what could have happened to so drastically change his best friend.

"You can go see your friends now," Riku said contemptuously. A trap door opened up below Sora's feet, and he hung in the air for a split second that seemed almost like a minute to the boy before gravity kicked in and he plummeted into the ship's hold.

"Ouch!"

"Ow!"

"Oomph!"

"Hey, watch who you're landing on!" Donald yelled in protest at having Sora dropped on his head.

"Sorry," Sora apologized, though his voice was subdued.

"What happened?" Goofy asked.

"I was talking to Riku," Sora explained, "and a trapdoor opened up right under me."

"Riku?" Donald asked, a slight note of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah."

"Well, what did he say?" Goofy asked. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know," Sora said.

"You were just talking to him!" Donald pointed out angrily.

"Yeah, I know," Sora snapped, then hung his head in slight depression again. "I don't know if he's okay, though. He's sided with the Heartless. And Kairi was with him."

"You don't say?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi," Sora affirmed, a note of excitement back in his voice. "I've finally found her..."

"All right! Let's go up and talk to her," Goofy suggested.

"Yeah!" Sora agreed, now sounding more like his old self.

"Sounds great," Donald agreed, though he wasn't quite as excited as the rest. "Okay, but first... how about getting off!"

"Oh, sorry," Sora said, rolling off of his two friends and getting to his feet.

* * *

"What?" Hook demanded. "So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?"

"There are seven, supposedly," Riku said, "and Maleficent says she's not one of them. Hoist anchor as soon as possible. Leave all the dead weight behind, including her."

"After the trouble of capturing her?" Hook protested. "And why those seven? What is Maleficent planning, anyway?"

"Who knows?" Riku countered, his impatience plain in his voice. "As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

"Hmph!" Hook snorted. "You're wasting your time. The Heartless have devoured that girl's heart. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

"I will find it no matter what," Riku snapped.

"Uh, Captain," said a nervous voice over a set of pipes used for communication throughout the ship.

"What?" Hook spat into this end of the tube.

"The prisoners have escaped," Smee said, now sounding even more nervous. "What's more, Peter Pan is with them."

"Blast that Peter Pan!" Hook snarled. "All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee. Hop to it!"

Riku scowled at the captain as they waited for "the hostage" to arrive. Neither said a thing to the other the entire time, but exchanged glares that could have set stone on fire. When Kairi arrived in the arms of several Heartless, Riku scooped her up into his own arms, and Hook left to do whatever it was he did, probably cowering somewhere. Right before Riku stepped through the portal of darkness, though, Sora arrived, nearly ripping the door off it's hinges in his haste.

"Riku, wait!" Sora yelled desperately as soon as he took in the scene in the cabin. Riku merely glared and stepped through the portal, leaving behind a little present for Sora in the form of Antisora.

"It was reckless to bring her here without using a vessel," Maleficent said after Riku had stepped through to her side. He was bent over panting, totally exhausted from his use of the dark powers without preparation. "Remember, relying too heavily on the dark powers could cost you your heart."

Riku lifted his head to glare daggers at the witch, then heard something from somewhere in the castle. It sounded like the roar of some kind of huge, monstrous beast. He subconciously looked over his shoulder, even though he was well aware that there was nothing but solid wall back there.

"A castaway," Maleficent explained, catching Riku's slightly concerned expression. "Though his world perished, his heart did not. When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will. But fear not. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."

"My power?" Riku asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

"Yes," Maleficent drawled, "the untapped power that lies within you. Now, child, it is time you awakened that power and realised your full potential."

She gestured with her hand, and a greenish glow surrounded Riku. He once again felt the darkness within his heart growing stronger, and let that strength flow through him. He sighed, not even realising he did it, and wondered just how much more darkness his heart could take.


	5. The Planning Stages

A/N: And thusly thou shalt recieveth thy first unorthodox TIME LAPSE! I hate doing that, but there's no getting around it. Dammit all. Normally, I save time lapses for between fics, but that obviously isn't working. Correction: I **_TRY_** to save time lapses for between fics. I think I've been doing pretty good about avoiding in-fic jumps up till now. And in case you all forgot, Mizu hasn't slept in _ages_, so that's why Sora makes the remark he does. Enjoy this chapter in all its complete sucky-ness!

* * *

"There you are, Sora," said a voice from right behind him. Sora nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to find Leon standing there, arms crossed over his chest.

"Leon!" Sora exclaimed. "Don't do that! You scared me half to death!"

"Whatever," Leon muttered. "Mizu's waiting for you. Follow me."

"Mizu?" Sora asked. Leon just gave Sora a _look_ over his shoulder. "You mean she's here? What about Riku and Kairi?"

"I don't know," Leon admitted, annoyance creaping into his voice. "All I know is that she needs to talk to you before she heads back out. She's been waiting for two days, so you'd better hurry up."

"All right," Sora agreed, hurrying after Leon and ignoring Donald and Goofy's (mostly Donald's) protests. Leon led him through town down to the secret waterway, where not only was Mizu waiting, but Cloud as well and a blonde-haired girl Sora didn't know.

"Found him," Leon said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder in Sora's direction.

"Mizu!" Sora exclaimed when he saw her, noticing something that struck him as completely _wrong_ about her appearance. "You look like crap!"

"Thank you for that assessment, Sora," Mizu said, opening one eye to glare at him, but keeping her head resting on Cloud's shoulder. "Only everyone in the whole town has told me that, I was not aware of the fact. Park it and zip it, kid, I'm on the clock. Leon, where're Yuffie and Aerith?"

"They're on their way," Leon told her, leaning up against a convenient wall and looking at her with an odd expression that was probably the closest thing to concern his face could get.

"Thank you, bro," she sighed, then pushed herself up into a more erect position, though she had to lean forward on her arms in order to avoid falling over. "Do you know if they've found anything yet?"

"I doubt they would," Leon admitted. "Most of the research didn't make it out with us. Sora's the only one with the reports."

"I thought Aerith had one?" Mizu asked, confusion plainly evident on her face. Sora was slightly startled by this, because normally he couldn't tell what emotions or thoughts were going through her head no matter how hard he tried. Apparently she was so exhausted that she was mainly concentrating on staying awake and aware enough for whatever she had in mind for this meating.

"She does, but it's pretty useless without the others."

"Well, crap," Mizu groaned. "Sora, about how many of Ansem's reports have you collected?"

"I dunno," Sora admitted, then turned to look at the cricket standing on his shoulder. "Jimminy?"

Jimminy leafed through his journal and produced the reports.

"Ah, here they are," he said in triumph, then hopped over to Mizu to hand them to her. "Here you go, Mizu. That's all we have."

"Thank you," she said in all sincerity. She scanned them, then handed them over to Leon. "These look genuine to you? I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time focusing right now."

"I understand," Leon said in a somewhat gentle tone as he accepted the documents. He scanned them a little more intently than Mizu had, then nodded. "Yeah, these are genuine alright. I don't know why you'd think they wouldn't be, though."

"'Expect the worst, but hope for the best,'" Mizu quoted, though who or what she quoted Sora didn't know. "Anyway, Sora, I asked Leon--"

Leon snorted.

"Fine. I threatened Leon with castration to--"

Leon choked.

"Leon, you're being rediculous," Mizu snapped. "It _was_ a request, you know. My time's limited, remember?"

"Right," Leon said, snickering at her behind his hand. "Go ahead."

"And here I thought I was the one who was getting silly," Mizu muttered, then turned her attention back to Sora. "Okay, ignoring the hysterical wonder over there, I need a favor from you, Sora."

"What is it?" Sora asked, knowing from her tone that she was dead serious about this.

"I need a distraction for the Heartless while Cloud, Serenity and I try to sneak into Hollow Bastion."

Leon's choke was sincere this time.

"Are you out of your mind?" he demanded.

"Need I remind you of how much sleep I've had lately?" Mizu retorted. "At this point I'm not even sure I have a mind to be out of. Now shut up, would you?"

"Not if you're planning on going to Hollow Bastion!" Leon exclaimed. "Don't you remember? We've set up so many defenses on that town that nothing could possibly get past!"

"We left a few places safe," Mizu pointed out.

"No," Leon stated, offering Mizu no options. "You're not going. _Any_ of you."

"I can protect her just fine if that's what you're worried about," Cloud said, siding with Mizu.

"And I'll watch Cloud's back," Serenety piped in, sounding just a bit like Yuffie in that moment.

"You're _all_ insane!" Leon snapped. "Cloud, you of all people should know how--"

"I do know, Squall," Cloud retorted. "That's why I'm going with her."

"Going with who?" asked a soft voice from the entrance to the waterway.

"They're going to Hollow Bastion," Leon said before anyone got a chance to answer.

"You are?" Aerith asked, looking at Cloud, Serenity, and Mizu in surprise. Mizu glared back as though she expected Aerith to try and dissuade her.

"I'm going," she stated flatly. "Whether anyone likes it or not. Riku's there, and there's no way in hell I'm going to leave him there."

"I understand," Aerith said with a nod, and Mizu was quite obviously taken aback by this. "I do. Go, it's okay. But be careful, alright?"

"I'll look out for her," Cloud pointed out again, though a bit less forcefully than he had with Leon.

"Then I'm not worried at all," Aerith conceded with a smile his way.

"Will you guys be needing Materia?" Yuffie asked, walking up behind Aerith. "I have plenty you can use."

"What do you think?" Mizu asked, looking to Cloud for advice. "You're the Materia dictator."

"Very funny," Cloud retorted, then grew serious again. "I think we have more than enough."

"That clinches it," Mizu said, then smiled at Yuffie. "Thanks for the offer, though."

"Oh, no problem," Yuffie said dismissively. "If it's for you guys, then I'm more than happy to help."

"Cool. Oh, hey, you wouldn't happen to have any of my old throwing knives, would you? Currently my only long-range offense is spells."

Yuffie thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, I do have some. I've kept them pretty sharp, too, so they shouldn't be in too bad a shape for you."

"You rock, thief," Mizu told her with a grin.

"What do you need me to do?" Sora asked.

"You're not going along with this?" Leon asked.

"Why not?" Aerith retorted. "I think he's proven that he can take care of himself. And he'll have Donald and Goofy with him. He'll be fine, and so will Mizu. You worry too much, Leon."

"Sometimes I wonder if I worry enough," Leon muttered, but everyone heard him.

"Oh, God, I really need to get some sleep," Mizu groaned, pressing her face into her hands. "I almost said something I _know_ could never be forgiven."

"At least you caught yourself," Aerith said. "That's a good sign."

"I guess. Anyway, Sora, I need you to go through the front door," Mizu said, lifting her face from her hands to stare Sora in the eye. "I know of a port for gummi's around back, but I need you to draw the attention of the defenses so we can get in. Can you do that?"

"No problem!" Sora assured her, sounding supremely confident. Mizu smiled at him.

"Cool. And, if you see Riku, occupy him until we get there. Otherwise, meet us in the Library. I kind of expect you to get there ahead of us. The route there from where I plan to land is a little long, and yours is shorter. You'll know where the Library is when you get to it."

"Big room, a lot of books," Cloud described to Sora, who glared at him.

"I know what a library is!" the boy protested.

"Good, because I can't plan with you much longer," Mizu said, punctuating the sentance with a yawn. "I'm about to drop off, and to hell with the nightmares." She somehow managed to struggle to her feet, and even managed to stay there, then turned to look at Cloud. "I'm headed back to the hotel. Wake me at dawn, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Cloud asked.

"I've wasted enough time already," Mizu admitted, running her hand through her hair. "I want to get there yesterday, to be honest. Sora, thanks for listening and agreeing to this."

"You're welcome," Sora said, then watched with slight concern as she walked shakily away. Yuffie ran up to her and supported her on the way out, then presumably all the way to the hotel.

"This has to be the most rediculous--" Leon started to say, but stopped when he noticed the contemptuous way Aerith was looking at him.

"We already knew she as reckless," Cloud pointed out. "She's always been like that. I don't know what you're worried about."

"Mizu survived on her own for nine years, Leon," Aerith added. "Doesn't that tell you something?"

"She's not thinking straight--"

"When has she ever?" Cloud asked.

"But..." Leon protested half-heartedly. "How can you not be worried about her?"

Aerith laughed out loud, and Cloud smiled at Leon with a deffinite air of "I know something you don't" about him.

"You stop worrying about her after the fifth time she pulls herself out of an impossible situation," Aerith said. "She's really lucky, Leon. And if that luck doesn't protect her this time--"

"Then I will," Cloud finished. "You have nothing to worry about."

"It's... not her physical safety I'm worried about," Leon admitted. "I think her heart has gotten tangled in something that could destroy her. I don't want to see that happen."

"I don't either," Cloud said. "But that's also why I'm going with her. If anything happens to her heart, I think I can do something to heal it. Or at least help."

"What are you so worried about?" Sora asked. Everyone else looked at him as though they were surprised at the question.


	6. Into the Breach

A/N: 'Tis now a little after six in the afternoon and I have just spent who knows how long talking to one of my friends named James (I know two Jameses) and playing Klondike Solitaire and am currently in an abnormally good mood, meaning I have just laughed my ass of at every other word spoken, including the words "two's," "Pokemon," and "gloat." Yes, I am insane. No, I am not on any drugs. Not even Tylenol. I don't trust drugs, and I trust doctors about as far as I can spit them. And seeing as no sane or otherwise person would want to stick a doctor in their mouth and see how far they can be spat, that's not very damned far. You _really_ don't want to know the mental image behind that... And my Japanese-English dictionary has dye all over it... Yes, for those of you who were bitching (behind my back on Livejournal, mind) because of my use of the word "koishii" as opposed to "koibito" (meaning that Mizu says "beloved" as opposed to "lover"), and you know who you are, you now know what "dark hole" I pulled the word from. And if I weren't a girl and thus totally lacking this body part, I would tell you to suck my dick. As it is, feel free to kiss my ass at any time. And yes, this is me in an abnormally good mood. Unless, of course, I'm around my friends, then we have a hard time keeping me from making a complete idiot out of myself in public and/or we traipse around like a pack of lesbians. We have fun. And we're not lesbians. Well, most of us... Those of us that aren't lesbians are either totally bi or totally straight or totally guys. And there is only one homophobe in the group, but we're going to cure him of that if we have to tie him up and toss him in a closet with another guy. Litterally! We're ruthless, and don't approve of homophobia. And that, my friends, is called "OMFG? WTF? TMI!" Better known as "Dude, we didn't need to know that!" Anyway, enough of my severe lack of a social life, here's the fic!

* * *

Sora's sword wiped out the last of the wave of Heartless, and he sprinted to the only door he saw. He assumed this was the "front door" Mizu had been talking about, but he didn't see much of a choice. Besides, it was either go in now, or stay out here and continue beating on the Heartless with a useless wooden sword. He was still a little miffed at Riku about that cruel joke, but the initial anger had swiftly faded and was replaced with concern for his friend. Riku had never treated him that way before, not even after he sided with the Heartless. What could possibly be wrong?

"Be on your guard," the Beast growled, looking around the Entrance Hall suspiciously. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?"

The funny thing was, Sora was just wondering that himself.

He didn't notice when the Beast took off after a Heartless that had been impersonating the girl Beast cared about most, Belle, though. Instead, his attention was focused on the three figures standing in front of him, apparently waiting.

"Quit while you can," Riku snarled.

"No," Sora snapped immediately. "Not without Kairi."

Sora watched in stunned amazement as Riku used his dark powers to transform, though what that signified Sora couldn't guess.

"The darkness will destroy you," Riku pointed out calmly, almost coldly.

"You're wrong, Riku," Sora said, and he knew in his heart that it was true. No matter what Riku had been told, and no matter how scared Sora was at that moment, he still knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the darkness couldn't touch his heart. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!"

"Really," Riku scoffed, holding out his hand, palm out and fingers spread. "Well, we'll just see about that!"

Sora suddenly found that he couldn't move, and watched in horror as a globe of darkness began to form in the palm of Riku's hand. Next thing he knew, that black orb was rocketing towards him, and he did his best to get a defense up in time.

"Sora!" shrieked a voice that was unmistakably Mizu's, and also unmistakably scared to death for him.

Neither of them should have worried.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly Sora could move again. He opened his eyes to find Goofy standing in front of him, having blocked the attack with his shield.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!" Goofy said matter-of-factly.

"You would betray your king?" Riku asked.

"Not on your life!" Goofy retorted. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!" Goofy then looked around his shield, and waved good-bye. "See ya later, Donald. Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy," Donald protested, running towards his two friends. "We'll tell him together."

"Well," the duck said, almost embarrassedly, when he was back at Sora's side, "you know... One for all and all for one."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora," Goofy laughed.

Sora hung his head, really glad that he had two of his friends back, but having them with him again only heightened his realization that he was about to fight the one person he had always believed in as a friend, through thick and thin, no matter what happened or what was said.

"Thanks a lot," he replied, and he meant it. "Donald, Goofy."

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku asked, sounding as though he found the entire scene utterly disgusting.

"He has a weapon," Mizu snapped. "It's called 'friendship,' and it seems to be something _you've_ forgotten."

"I know now I don't need the Keyblade," Sora retorted, clarifying Mizu's outburst. "I've got a better weapon. My heart."

"You tell 'im, kid," Mizu encouraged.

"You heart?" Riku laughed. "What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone," Sora explained, not knowing why he was explaining in the first place. Maybe his heart, and the hearts of all his friends were telling him that Riku needed to know this. "It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. And if they think of me now and then... if they don't forget me..." Sora somehow managed to hold back the "like you have" he desperately wanted to say, "then our hearts will be one."

Sora steeled himself, then drew his wooden sword and took a fighting stance, facing his former best friend, ready to attack or defend at any moment, and knowing that not a word of what he said had gotten through to Riku. He couldn't resist one last try, though.

"I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"

They Keyblade chose that moment to switch masters, and reappeared in Sora's hands, where it belonged.

"You've forgotten this, Riku," Mizu pointed out softly from her perch on the balcony ringing the hall. "You've forgotten what true friendship is, and you've forgotten what it's like to have a heart."

She swung over the bannister and landed on the floor like a cat, then stood and began slowly walking towards Riku.

"I don't know what happened," she admitted, "but you're different from what I remember. The Riku _I_ know wouldn't have allowed his heart to blacken like you have." She stopped a few feet in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a stern but worried look. "Tell me, Riku, what happened to the boy I fell in love with?"

Riku was visibly taken aback by this. On the other hand, Sora nearly lost his jaw. And his eyeballs, for that matter.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked.

"Where's the real Riku?"

"What?" Riku barked. "I _am_ the real Riku!"

Mizu shook her head, a sad smile on her lips. This just got Riku even angrier.

"Are you saying I'm a fake?"

"Wow, you're quick for a fraud," Mizu said, smirking up into his face. There were one of three possible reasons for that smirk:

1) she was enjoying herself.

2) she was goading Riku on for some reason or another.

3) answers 1 and 2.

Sora's vote was for #3. Because knowing Mizu, this was a part of her "grand scheme" that she had forgotten to mention, and she was just sadistic enough to be having fun with the whole affair. Therefore, answer number three made perfect sense.

"I'm not a fake!" Riku snapped at her.

"Prove it," came the immediate response. Riku opened his mouth to say something, reconsidered, closed it, tried again, then repeated the process a few times. After three tries, he stood in silence. "You can't, can you?"

"I..." Riku started, then stopped again. Mizu lost her smirk and laid a hand on his arm.

"I'm willing to help," she said softly. "But only if you're willing to accept it."

Riku jerked his arm away from her.

"Why should I?" he snarled. "You're not doing anything to help Kairi! Even after you swore you'd do everything you can to save her, you haven't done a _thing_! Why should I believe you'd help me? Or are you breaking your promise?"

Mizu's eyes flashed with anger, and Sora involuntarily took a step back. He was reminded of a saying that went "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Well, it looked like Mizu was just scorned.

"I may be a murderer," she snarled right back into Riku's startled expression, "and a thief, and a terrorist, but I am no oathbreaker. I _am_ helping Kairi, and that requires helping you first! Or do you want her to see you like this, defeated and turning to darkness for salvation?"

"Shut up," Riku spat, but Mizu just plowed right over him.

"I know Kairi well enough to be certain that she would not appreciate you turning to darkness for her sake," she continued heatedly. "She would rather remain in danger than see any of us harmed because we were trying to save her. And you foolishly--"

"Shut UP!" Riku shouted, backhanding Mizu across the face and knocking her to the ground. That was enough for Sora, though. He attacked, Keyblade leading. Riku fended him off for a few moments, but after a few well-placed spells from Donald and getting slammed a couple times by Goofy's shield, he turned tail and ran. Sora stooped and helped Mizu to her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sincerely worried about her.

"I'll live," she said, though she didn't sound like she believed it. "Looks like I pushed too hard too fast, huh?"

"What were you trying to do?" Donald asked.

"I was trying to get him to see that the path he had chosen was the wrong one," she admitted, gingerly rubbing her cheek. "I was hoping playing against his ego would work, but... well, that was obviously a mistake. I just don't get it. He never showed a bent for the darkness on the islands. I wonder what happened?"

"He's been hanging around with Maleficent and her gang," Sora informed her, and her look immediately blackened.

"Right," she growled. "I forgot. That witch has been poisoning him with her lies and false promises." She sighed and looked forlornly at a spot on the wall. "By now it's probably too late to save him."

They were silent for a moment more, then Mizu draped an arm across Sora's shoulders, and grinned at him.

"So," she said jovially, "what say you we go save his sorry butt whether he likes it or not?"


	7. Servant of Darkness

A/N: I have to admit something about these fics: ALTERED BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION FROM ORIGINAL COPIES. Seriously, when I wrote these by hand about three years ago (yes, I'm slow, leave me alone), they were totally different. There was this thing, it was called a Soulblade... It was lame as hell, so I got rid of it. Mizu's personality was also completely different. Remember how she acted way back when in "Memories Forming," then in "New World" and "Brother, My Brother"? How completely pathetic she was, not to mention a total crybaby? Yeah, that was her original personality. Personally, I like her a lot better the way she is now. Bitchy and stubborn, I mean. As opposed to maleable and whining, of course. She was also the epitome of Mary Sue-ness: polite, proper, considerate, and totally incapable of hating or being hated by anybody. She got along great with everyone she met, she liked everyone she met, and there were no problems. Then I figured "Fuck that's boring!" and completely overhauled her personality. Now she and Donald get into random shouting matches, she loathes Maleficent and Xehanort and most of the members of Organization XIII (the exeptions being Axel, Roxas, and Namine), she's mouthy and impatient, swears up and down at every available opportunity, and loves the occasional practical joke which will usually run right along side her twisted sense of humor. Not as sick and twisted as mine, though. Seriously, I start laughing my damn fool head off if my brother says "balls." It doesn't even have to be balls, it can be "stick," "hard," "stick 'em up" (this said while threatening the dog with a stick, as in from a tree, mind), "tree," "cup," "meat," "bacon," (mostly because I'm a bacon freak and whenever I order bacon at a restaurant, either he or Mom will yell "BACON!" like that dog in the Beggin' Strips commercial) "pole," "rod," "sword," "Life Savers," and "moo." He moos every now and then, it's actually a little disturbing. And there's a story behind the Life Savers one. Involving Legos and Star Wars. Guy was laying on ground dying, buddy comes up and asks "What happened?" Dying guy replies "I didn't eat all the Life Savers..." and dies. This, by the way, acted out with Star Wars Legos by my cousin Mike who is approximately four years older than me. Closer to three and a half, actually. And I'm eighteen. We were younger at the time, of course, but it was still hilarious. Anyway, what was I talking about? The fic, right! Yeah, altered beyond all recognition, made Mizu less of a Mary Sue, and got rid of the Soulblade. Honestly, if I ever come up with something that lame again, somebody please shoot me... On the other hand, Rebecca was upset when I got rid of the Soulblade because she liked it. Me? I got rid of it, remember? And Mizu died, like, I don't know how many times. They were alternate endings, you understand. But still, she died at least once every fic. I think it's quite obvious how far the altering went for _that_! And if you think there was a butt-load of altering and editing and whatnot for _these_, wait 'til you see my compilation fic! But anyway, now that you've had the history lesson, here's a new chappie for ya. Merry Christmas! Yes, I know it's July.

* * *

Sora burst into the chamber, followed closely by Donald, Goofy, and Mizu. They had left Cloud and Serenity back in the Library after a quick chat. The chat had consisted of "Hi Cloud. Hi Serenity. Bye Cloud. Bye Serenity," as Mizu dashed on through, dragging Sora along behind by the hand. When she had heard Cloud start to get up to either follow or stop her, she called back "We can handle it, be back in a jip!" Sora had thought he'd heard Cloud chuckle weakly. Or maybe it was sigh in exasperation. With Mizu as the intended recipient, it could have been either, or maybe even both.

Of course, as soon as Sora stopped just a few feet into the chamber he had just burst into, he noticed that the chamber wasn't as empty as he had originally thought. Maleficent was standing across the way, apparently ready for them.

"Hey, witch," Mizu quipped, her sarcasm evident and almost thick enough to cut, "how's tricks?"

"I remember you from Traverse Town," Maleficent admitted, narrowing her eyes. "How noble of you to come to rescue your friend and lover. A real pity."

"You should remember me from a bit earlier than Traverse Town," Mizu pointed out with a feral grin. "The name's Mizu. Mizu Hikari, of Nibelheim." She bowed mockingly and grinned up at the witch, taking evident pleasure in Maleficent's surprise.

"Impossible!" Maleficent protested. "I killed you myself!"

"Better make sure you actually finish the job this time, Maleficent," Mizu responded, straightening up from her mocking bow. "Unfortunately, your dark magic, though admittedly powerful, can't possibly hope to destroy me as easily as you thought. Not alone, anyway. And with the help I had, you're gonna need a lot of allies to get rid of me."

Sora, of course, was staring at her in shocked amazement. First of all, she looked pretty healthy for someone who was supposedly dead. Second, he had known her for over a year and could vouch personally (and so could a few bruises) that she was very much alive. Third, when had she had the time to tangle with Maleficent?

"But I do have to admit," Mizu continued with a mocking laugh, "it took me the better part of the last year to get over our last encounter."

Well, that explained two and three. Now what about one?

"But how could you have survived?" Maleficent demanded. Sora was loving that, of course. He didn't have to ask the stupid questions this time! "I plunged you into darkness myself! You could not have possibly survived. Your heart is too full of light."

"Well," Mizu drawled, "there was a little matter of a friendship with someone named King Mickey..."

Now it was Donald and Goofy's turn to stare. Maleficent, on the other hand, looked completely stunned.

"Anyway," Mizu continued flippantly, "we're here to kick your sorry ass and stop whatever plans you have in motion."

"I'm afraid you're too late," Maleficent purred, regaining the upper hand. "Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable."

"We'll stop it!" Sora shot at her, readying his Keyblade. "After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"Prepare to burn, bitch!" Mizu seconded, drawing one of her knives and lunging at Maleficent. Maleficent, however, merely threw her arms out and knocked Mizu flying to crash against the wall, unconcious.

"You poor, simple fools!" Maleficent roared. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?"

In answer, Sora, Donald, and Goofy attacked. Maleficent attempted to counter with her magic, but Goofy charged ahead and blocked it like he had the blast from Riku. Sora ducked and rolled to the side, firing several volleys of fire-balls at the witch while Donald launched a few lightning bolts at her.

Being a witch, and thus capable of using her own magic, Maleficent either blocked or deflected the spells, and too soon for Sora's taste, he ran out of energy for spells. So, sticking true to his nature and the technique he had been honing since long before this adventure started, he ran up and attacked with his Keyblade. Maleficent, slightly distracted by Donald's continued attacks, swiped at him with her staff and managed to land a glancing blow on Sora's shoulder. In retaliation, Sora whacked her repeatedly, dodging and ducking to get around and through her defenses, scoring several hits. Goofy ran up and slammed her into a wall with his shield, knocking the breath from the witch and disrupting her concentration on her own spells. They kept it up with this tactic--namely, whale away on her from up close and blast her from a distance--until the witch retreated in defeat.

When Sora was satisfied that the witch wasn't going to come back any time soon, he walked over to Mizu, who was slumped up against the wall, apparently unconcious.

"Mizu," Sora said, gently shaking the girl. "Mizu, if you keep this up, you're gonna miss all the fighting."

"Tell that to my blades, kid," Mizu replied groggily. "Ow. If there's one thing I hate, it slamming head-first into overly solid objects. Namely walls and floors." She pushed herself to her feet and stood rubbing her head for a moment. "Fortunately, I haven't had any intimate contact with a ceiling yet. Gravity seems to like me."

"Maybe you should stay here," Sora suggested. He backed off a step at Mizu's glare.

"Not a chance," she responded. "I promised Riku I'd help save Kairi, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Besides, it's not like I've been getting in your way or anything. I've been out cold for the last two fights."

"I guess you have a point," Sora admitted.

"You bet I do, now where'd the witch go?"

Sora pointed mutely towards the portal Maleficent had left behind.

"Huh," Mizu said, making an odd noise with her tongue that sounded like half of a _tsk_. "Looks like she's getting sloppy. Oh well... BANZAI!"

The last was said while running head-long into the portal. Actually, it was more of a leap that would most likely end in a controlled somersault at the other end. Sora, sighing in a way that would have made Cloud and Leon quite proud, plunged in after her, only to find that she had sprinted on ahead and left the Heartless behind for him, Donald, and Goofy to clean up.

"Mizu, wait up!" he called. She skidded to a halt and turned to look, but when she saw the Heartless attacking, she drew both of her knives and began carving up the nearest Heartless.

"Sorry," she said with a shrug when they met up about halfway down the corridor, not sounding like she meant it at all. Actually, she looked like she had been having fun. Sora's glare told her he wasn't fooled one bit, and she shrugged in reply.

"Let's go!" Donald shouted, pushing the two along. They took the hint, and ran towards the next room, only to find Maleficent again. This time, however, she was clutching her chest and gasping in pain.

"Do you need some help?" asked a figure who was painfully familiar to the group.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. Riku turned around, and Sora immediately noticed something that made his blood run cold.

"Is that a--" Donald started to ask, but Riku cut him off.

"Yes," he said, and his voice sounded strange, and somehow evil. "A Keyblade. But ulike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts." He lifted his Keyblade, almost reverently, and grinned. "Allow me to demonstrate..."

Faster than Sora could have ever dreamt possible, Riku turned and plunged the Keyblade deep into Maleficent's heart.

"Behold!"

"Wha--" was all that Maleficent could get out, but the word was drowned by Mizu's shriek of terror.

"Riku!"

The girl started to run towards him, but Sora's instincts cried out that this was the most idiotic thing to do at the moment, so he half-pounced her and held her back, staring in horror at the scene unfolding before him. Mizu struggled, but only a little, before she went limp in disbelief.

"Now," Riku commanded, "open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

"Dammit, Riku, this isn't _right_!" Mizu shrieked at the top of her lungs, straining against Sora's hold once again. Riku merely removed his Keyblade from Maleficent's heart, grinned at Mizu, and disappeared through darkness.

"This is it," Maleficent panted in ecstacy. "This power! Darkness... The true darkness!"

Sora was forced to let go of Mizu and ready his Keyblade as Maleficent transformed right in front of his eyes into a huge, black, fire-breathing dragon. He didn't even notice as Mizu flung herself to the last place they had seen Riku, then draw her daggers as the reality of the immediate situation hit.


	8. Darkness Descending

"How ironic," Riku drawled, stepping out of wherever it was he had been and walking on the corpse of the dragon Maleficent had become. "She was just a puppet after all."

"What?" Donald yelled, though no one could tell if he was demanding an explanation or shouting in surprise.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Riku continued as the corpse disappeared from beneath his feet. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

Riku sounded positivelly pleased about it. Before Sora or anyone else could protest or retaliate, Riku disappeared yet again.

"Sora," Mizu said, staring at an opening in the wall, shoulders heaving as though she were breathing heavilly. Perhaps she was, since she had thrown herself into the fight with uncharacteristic abandon. The tone she had used frightened Sora a little, too. He had never heard her angry before.

"Let's go," she continued, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Something about his expression must have tipped her off, though, because she turned a little to face him more fully, though still facing the doorway, and smiled reassuringly. "Kairi's waiting."

That decided him. Mizu had a hard time keeping pace with him, and her legs were longer! They made it to the next room in record time, and the scene waiting for them sent them all running up the stairs with no regard to whether or not it could be a trap.

"Kairi!" Sora breathed, then ran to her and lifted her gently in his arms. She was still breathing, but she didn't seem to be... there. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use," drawled a voice from somewhere up above the level the friends were standing on. Sora looked up, and he didn't need Mizu's whispered exclamation to identify the person perched above the scene.

"Riku..."

"That girl has lost her heart," Riku continued as though he hadn't heard Mizu. "She cannot wake up."

"What?" Sora exclaimed, then took a closer look at his best friend, gently laid Kairi back down on the floor, and stood to confront him. "You... You're not Riku." He wasn't surprised in the least when he heard Mizu drawing her daggers.

"The keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps," the imposter said, jumping down from his perch and gently descending to the floor as he spoke.

"The princess... ?" Sora asked, looking at the girl behind him, then turning back to the doppleganger. "Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes," the fake confirmed, "and without her power the keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go!" Sora demanded. "Give him back his heart!"

"Or I'll carve it out of your corpse!" Mizu threatened, taking a step forward and brandishing one of her knives. Riku's imposter ignored her, and grinned mockingly at Sora.

"But first," he explained, still with that mockingly evil grin, "you must give the princess back her heart."

Sora's heart twinged painfully, and he was driven to his knees, clutching his chest. He didn't know what that feeling meant, but he knew it had something to do with Kairi, and he also knew he had to keep this fake's hands away from her!

"Sora!" Donald and Mizu exclaimed, and Mizu knelt next to him, slipping her daggers back into their sheathes and resting one hand protectivelly on his shoulder.

"What's--"

"Don't you see yet?" Riku demanded. "The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi..." Sora gasped, still trying to get over that sharp pain that had hit him so suddenly. "Kairi's inside me?"

"I know all that there is to know," Riku assured him calmly, almost soothingly.

"Tell me," Sora demanded, looking the imposter in the face. "Who are you?"

The fake Riku grinned and spread his arms wide.

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness!"

Donald charged at Ansem, and Mizu threw one of the knives she had recieved from Yuffie, though Sora didn't see where she had drawn it from. Ansem dodged the missile, and knocked Donald flying out of a magical barrier that Sora just now noticed had blocked Goofy from coming in with them. When Mizu's knife didn't work, however, she threw herself at Ansem, drawing the longer of her knives in the process.

Ansem grabbed her by the neck and held her off. She dropped the knife in favor of attempting to pry his fingers away from her throat, but he lifted her effortlessly from the ground and tossed her out after Donald as if she were nothing more than a rag doll. Sora watched Mizu go flying, but was relieved when he saw her flip in mid-air, legs straight and arms out, and land safely several feet away.

"So," Ansem said as though nothing had happened, raising his Keyblade, "I shall release you now, princess. Complete the keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Sora couldn't bear to watch as the Keyblade began it's descent, then Kairi's voice called out to him in perfect harmony with Mizu's shout, and he snapped out of it, bringing his own Keyblade out to block the one aiming for his head.

"Forget it," he snarled. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!" He surged to his feet, shoving Ansem back, then brought his Keyblade into it's customary position, clasped in both hands and down low to his right, ready to block, parry, or attack at a moment's notice.

Ansem leapt back, out of range, then lunged back in with inhuman speed, his Keyblade aimed for Sora's heart. Sora brought his own Keyblade to bear, blocking the attack, then launching into an under-handed swing of his own, sending Ansem back again. Instead of immediatelly rushing in for another attack, though, Ansem retreated slightly, then raised his hand to blast Sora with the same attack that Goofy had blocked in the Entrance Hall. Sora leapt to the side and rolled, unfortunatelly right into Ansem's waiting blade. Still crouched on the floor, Sora somehow managed to block it, and kicked out at Ansem's legs.

Ansem grinned, spread his arms, and began to levitate just off of the floor. Sora didn't stick around to see what he was up to. Instead, he jumped into the air and, using powers he had learned from Peter Pan back in Neverland, went into a long glide around Ansem, somehow managing to dodge the pillars of energy that erupted from the floor. Sora blew out a short sigh of relief, knowing that he couldn't have rolled out of the range of those without landing smack in the middle of the next one. Unfortunatelly, he couldn't maintain his glide for long, and when he landed, Ansem charged him, shrouded in an orb of dark energy. Sora swung his Keyblade and knocked Ansem off balance, but the man just charged back in again.

Ansem continued pressing Sora, using the same attack-and-run tactics until he got far enough away that he could use his Dark Aura attack again, but eventually, Sora's Keyblade slipped too far past Ansem's defenses, and he--as Mizu would later say while describing the fight--"took the bastard out."

Ansem dropped his Keyblade and disappeared, taking Riku--or his body at least--along for the ride, apparently not willing to give up such an excelent vessel.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, but Donald distracted him.

"Sora! Sora, look!"

"The... The keyhokle!" Goofy clarified, and both were staring in shock at the manifestation of the door to the heart of the world as something began happening to it. Sora tried to use the Keyblade to seal it, but something was wrong, and his attempt failed.

"It won't work," Goofy pointed out. "The keyhole's not finished yet!"

"What can we do?" Sora demanded.

"Maybe we've gotta go wake Kairi up."

"I think you're right," Sora admitted. "If we can free her heart... But... But how?" He looked around, and spotted the Keyblade that Ansem had dropped. Sora fully suspected that the Keyblade was actually Riku's, but it wasn't who owned it that caught his attention about it. "A Keyblade that opens people's hearts... I wonder."

"Sora?" Goofy asked. Sora ignored him and walked over to the Keyblade, picking it up.

"Sora, hold on!" Goofy said in immediate protest.

"No, wait!" Donald seconded.

"You're not--" Mizu added, but Sora's serene smile cut her off, and she stared in abject horror as he turned the tip of the Keyblade towards himself.

"Sora..." Donald said, as though he were about to reason with Sora to avoid what he was obviously intent on doing. Sora ignored him, raised the Keyblade, and plunged it into his heart.

"Sora!" Donald and Mizu yelled simultaneously. They heard and echoe of their shout as Kairi got up and saw what was happening. She shot past them like a bullet loosed from a gun and tried to catch Sora before he hit the ground, but he disappeared before she got there.

"Sora!" Donald called again. "Come back, Sora!"

Kairi stared at the spot where Sora would have been had he actually hit the ground in disbelief, one hand clenching over her heart.

"Sora," she whispered, "are you really-- No! It can't be! I won't let him go!"

Mizu clenched her fists and her jaw, visibly shaking in rage and grief.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" she growled, her fists tightening with each word until her nails cut into her palms and drew blood. "Sora, you idiot, there has to have been another way!"

"So," drawled a familiar voice from off to the side, "you have awakened at last, Princess. The keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over."

Donald, Goofy, and Mizu each took up defensive stances between Kairi and a man none of them recognized on sight, but knew by his voice. This was the real Ansem.

"Don't make another move!" Donald ordered.

"Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Goofy asked. Donald shook his head.

"I don't know!" he admitted desperatelly.

"It doesn't matter if we can or not," Mizu growled, her eyes fixed on Ansem and shining with an emotion very few had ever seen in her: pure, unadorned, and utter loathing. With a feral snarl, she launched herself at the man before her, knives leading. Ansem moved to attack, bringing out Riku's Keyblade again, but his movements were halting, stilted, as though he didn't have any control over his body.

"Impossible," he muttered, then an image of Riku appeared before him, holding his arms out and straining back as though he were attempting to keep Ansem at bay. Mizu skidded to a halt, her arms going limp at her side and her jaw almost completelly slack in surprise.

"No," Riku snarled. "You won't use me for this!"

"Riku!" Kairi shouted in astonishment. She then shrieked in horror as she saw that Ansem had regained enough control of his body for one last attack.

Riku's Keyblade shot unerringly for Mizu's unprotected stomach.


	9. Sacrifices

Mizu grunted as the Keyblade penetrated, splattering her blood all over Ansem's face and down her front. There was only one problem...

It wasn't Ansem's holding the Keyblade anymore.

"R-Ri... ku..." Mizu gasped as her knees gave out, sending her tumbling into his arms. Riku let out an inarticulate cry of horror and wrenched the Keyblade out of her as she fell, sending it flying across the room. He ignored the blood gushing from her wound and held her protectively, head cradled against his chest as she groaned in pain. He didn't even notice sinking to his knees, or the tears pouring down his face.

"Mizu!" Kairi screamed, darting forward to help. Riku looked up at her sharply, and she stopped in her tracks.

"You've got to run," he insisted. "The Heartless are coming!"

"But," Kairi protested, looking at Mizu laying in Riku's arms and fighting for every breath that she took.

"Go," Mizu grunted through her gasps of pain, and blood spurted from her mouth and rolled down her chin. Riku wrenched his eyes from Kairi and laid a gentle hand on Mizu's cheek, his face completely open and showing such a vulnerable yet concerned expression that Kairi didn't have the heart to leave. Mizu repeated her order more emphatically, somehow managing to sit up just enough to look Kairi straight in the eyes as she said it, then collapsing back into Riku's arms. Kairi hesitated a moment more, then nodded, and she took Donald and Goofy with her as she ran. She stopped long enough to gasp out what had happened to Cloud and Serenity, who had arrived scant seconds after Mizu had collapsed into Riku's arms. Both looked at each other, eyes wide in surprise and a little fear, and they sprinted in the opposite direction that Kairi was running in.

A loud groan, which was probably as close to a shout as Mizu could get at the moment, greated them as they cleared the last three steps in one stride. Cloud sank instantly to his knees next to Mizu and put a hand over the gushing wound to help stem the bloodflow.

"Cloud," Riku said, and there was so much pleading and heartbreak in his voice that Cloud looked up at him without even thinking, absently taking note of the tears clearing paths through the blood on his face. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop..."

"N-" Mizu somehow managed through her harsh breathing and groans, "not yer... fault... love." Her voice brought Cloud back to reality and he cast several hasty cure spells on her, hoping they would do most of the work for him. Sure enough, the bloodflow began to lessen, but he couldn't tell if it was because of the spells or because she was running out of blood to lose.

"Dammit, Serenity," he snapped at the girl hovering off to the side, "help me!"

Serenity started as though Cloud had startled her out of a slight trance, and he might have, but she immediatelly went to her knees next to Riku, putting her arm under Mizu's head with his, then gently nudging him out of the way.

"Go," she insisted. "I can take it from here." When Riku didn't move, she turned an almost angry glare on him. "Go! Look out for your other friends. They need you right now more than Mizu does."

Cloud gave her an odd look, but didn't contradict her.

"We'll take care of her," he insisted to Riku. "Go. Whatever happens here happens. There's nothing more you can do here. Take care of your other friends right now." Cloud cast another spell, then looked around.

"Where's Sora?" he asked Riku, noticing that the boy was missing and hadn't been with Kairi when she had left.

"He..." Riku started to say, then shook his head. "I'm not really sure."

"K-keyblade," Mizu grunted. "He u-used it on... on himself to free Kairi's heart."

"He used his Keyblade on himself?" Cloud asked, so startled he forgot to cast his cure spell again.

"N-no," Mizu corrected. "R-Riku's..."

Cloud and Serenity both stared at Riku incredulously, eyes wide in shock. Mizu's fruitless struggle to sit up brought them both back to reality, however. Cloud cast a few more cure spells, then lifted his had to check the progress of the wound, and grimmaced.

"I won't lie to you, munchkin," he said, "but it's messy."

"I'll jes' bet," Mizu groaned through clenched teeth. "Riku, gwan an' leave, love. I'm in good hands. Promise."

Riku hesitated a moment, then nodded almost like Kairi had, and sprinted in a direction no one had suspected--through the keyhole.

* * *

"Kairi, hurry!" Goofy insisted, noticing that she had stopped.

"I can't leave them behind!" Kairi argued.

"We can't stay here!" Donald protested.

"A Heartless is after us!" Goofy pointed out, litterally. Donald took up his staff.

"I'll take care of him!"

The Shadow approached cautiously, and Donald attacked. The thing easily dodged the blow, and Donald tried again.

"Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?"

Kairi noticed the Shadow Heartless make a gesture, a slight tilting of it's head, that reminded her forcefully of Sora.

"Sora?" she asked, stepping towards it cautiously. "Is that you?"

"Uh-oh," Goofy said, indicating that they were rapidly being surrounded by Heartless. Kairi scooped up the peculiar Shadow in her arms and held it protectively, backing away from the hostile Heartless and running into Donald and Goofy.

"This time," she swore to the Heartless in her arms, "I'll protect you."

Goofy shouted out a warning as one of the hostile Heartless leapt to attack. It never completed the attack, as there was a flash of light, eliminating the Heartless and reverting Sora to his normal self. When it was obvious the Shadows would not return, Sora turned and held Kairi tightly in his arms.

"Kairi," he said, his voice slightly choked up from his myriad of emotions, "thank you."

"Sora," Kairi breathed, too elated at the moment to respond with anything more.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed, and Sora looked up to see that the Shadows had returned. The Beast leapt in just in the nick of time and cleared a path for them out of the Entrance Hall.

"Go!" he ordered. "Now!"

"Come with us!" Sora insisted, but the Beast shook his head.

"I told you before," he growled, "I'm not leaving without Belle. Now go! The Heartless are coming!"

Sora nodded, grabbed Kairi by the hand, and started running for the gummi ship, Donald and Goofy right on his heels.

* * *

"Thank goodness you're back!" Aerith exclaimed when she saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy walking up, a girl she didn't recognize in tow. "You must be Kairi."

"Y-yes," Kairi confirmed, slightly startled. "Yes, I'm Kairi. Who are you?"

"My name is Aerith," Aerith replied, then returned the majority of her attention to Sora and the other two, which was a big relief to Kairi.

"Are Mizu and Cloud on their way?" Aerith asked, and it was all Kairi could do to hold back a sob.

"There's," Sora said hesitantly, not looking Aerith in the eye. "There's something we need to tell you."

"I see," Aerith said. "It can wait until we're back with Leon and Yuffie. Follow me."

Kairi didn't pay any attention to the trip through Traverse Town, and when they arrived at the house all she did was go over to the window and stare absently out of it. Sora looked at her with no little concern, then looked at Leon, who was looking at him without glaring, which somewhat surprised Sora.

"Tell me what happened," Leon insisted evenly. Sora clenched his jaw and his fists, hung his head, then recited to Leon everything that had happened.

"So the darkness is flowing out of the Keyhole," Leon said when Sora was done.

"Wait a minute!" Sora yelped, startled into staring Leon straight in the eye. "What about Mizu?"

"I'll worry about that later," Leon insisted. "Right now the Keyhole is our primary concern."

"But--"

"If Cloud can't take care of her, then there's nothing we can do," Aerith informed Sora, and Kairi as well, who had begun almost paying attention when Sora told Leon about what had happened.

"That Keyhole is a problem that we _can_ deal with, though," Leon pointed out. "The darkness from it is increasing by the minute."

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith said, helping to stear the conversation back to where it could do some good. "The only way to stop them is--"

"Seal the Keyhole," Sora inturrupted, taking the not-so-subtle hints, "right?"

"Maybe," Leon admitted. "But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed."

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora half-shouted, half-growled. "We have to do something. I've got a friend back there. And besides, whether you'll admit it or not, Mizu needs our help!"

"That's right," Leon agreed, startling Sora almost right out of his shorts. "You have one more friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts--just like that Keyhole you saw." He glanced significantly at Kairi, who was still staring out the window. "Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friend, you can."


	10. Promises

"Sora," Leon said, almost smiling. "You did it."

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked, slightly stunned at seeing them so close to the front lines when Leon and the gang had mostly stuck in Traverse Town and concentrated on helping the victims.

"We came in Cid's ship," Yuffie said cheerfully.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith admitted, looking around at the place. "We wanted to see it again."

"It's in worse shape than I feared," Leon muttered absently. "It used to be so peaceful."

"Don't worry," Aerith assured him softly. "If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored." She turned to Sora and smiled at him, offering a boost of hope as well as incentive to win. "Even your island."

"Really?" Sora asked, not quite sure he believed her but daring to accept the hope she offered anyway.

"But," Yuffie pointed out with mock-cheeriness to cover her sorrow, "it also means goodbye."

"Once the worlds are restored," Aerith confirmed, "they'll be seperate again."

"Everyone will go back to where they came from."

"Then I'll visit you guys with the gummi ship," Sora promised. Leon shook his head, and even he displayed a hint of sorrow.

"It's not that simple," he said.

"Before all this," Yuffie pointed out, "you didn't know about the other worlds, right?"

"Because every worlds was isolated," Aerith explained. "Impassable walls seperated them."

"The Heartless destroyed those walls," Yuffie said, taking up the explanation where Aerith had left off. "But if the worlds return, so will the walls."

"Which means gummi ships will be useless," Leon added with finality.

"So you're saying we'll never...?" Sora said, the hope that Aerith's promise of the Destiny Islands being restored had awakened in him now dying like a snuffed candle flame.

"We may never meet again," Leon said, but there was a note of reassurance in his voice, as well as one that could only possibly be affection, "but we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are," Aerith said, sharing the note that was in Leon's voice, and adding a smile to her words, "our hearts will bring us together again."

"Besides," Yuffie said, pointedly looking away so Sora wouldn't see that she was teasing, "I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded, taking the bait willingly and doing his best to hold back a grin.

"Sora!" Donald called from up near the Keyhole.

"Hurry!" Goofy added. "Come and close the Keyhole!"

Sora immediatelly turned to join his companions and finally end everything, when an unexpected comment made him stop.

"Sora," Leon said, "good luck."

Sora grinned at him, then ran up to Donald and Goofy. He couldn't stop himself, though, from looking off to the side, to the patch of floor that was stained dark red with Mizu's blood. When they had come in, Cloud, Serenity, and Mizu were nowhere to be found, so Sora still didn't know if Cloud had managed to save her or not, and he desperatelly wanted the answer.

* * *

Sora's hand reached for the door's handle, but he paused and drew back, confused.

"What's wrong?" Donald asked.

"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked, then cocked his head to listen carefully for the voice that had guided him at the beginning of this adventure. "There!"

"Careful," the Voice warned. "This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light."

"I don't hear anything," Donald said testilly.

"Strange," Sora muttered. "That voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Maybe you'd better take a rest!" Donald suggested, only half joking.

Sora shook his head and opened the door, stepping out into bright light, the roar of the ocean, the smell of sea-salt, and soft, white sand that was achingly familiar. He stared in stunned amazement for a moment before his voice decided to start working again.

"Is this," he asked, hardly daring to believe it. "Is this my island?"

Sora couldn't help himself. He turned around, to see if the door was still there, and saw the secret spot he had shown Kairi so long ago. He ran towards it, wanting to see the familiar drawings, but a voice stopped him in his tracks. It was a voice he recognized...

"This world has been connected."

Sora turned around and watched in horror as the small island with the paopu trees and the bridge leading to it disappeared, then the pier, and as the ocean turned a dark purplish-black color.

"What was that?" Goofy exclaimed, echoing Sora's thoughts perfectly.

"Tied to the darkness," the voice continued, "soon to be completelly eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand nothing. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

By the time the voice--which Sora recognized as that of the hooded man he had met the day the islands were destroyed--was done talking, the Destiny Islands were completelly transformed into a nightmarish version of what they once were. Down near the water's edge, Riku was staring out at the horizon, wearing the outfit he had while posessed by Ansem and the darkness. Sora let out a strangled cry and ran towards his best friend.

"Take a look at this tiny place," the voice said, sounding as though it were coming from Riku as he spread his arms to the purple-black ocean. "To the heart seaking freedom, this island is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."

Riku turned around, and melted away into the form of a man who could only be Ansem.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, worried for his friend.

"Don't bother," Ansem laughed. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness. And all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is it's nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came."

Ansem vanished and reappeared behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and Sora leapt back, pulling out his Keyblade as he did so.

"You see," Ansem continued, raising his hand before him and clenching the fingers into claws as though he were trying to hold onto the words, "darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora protested sharply. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deap down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Ansem rose further into the air, sneering down at Sora and his group.

"So you have come this far and still you understand nothing," he scoffed. "Every light must fade. Every heart return to darkness!"

Ansem attacked, and Sora steeled himself for the fiercest battle he had ever faced.

* * *

"It is futile," Ansem laughed, seeing how Sora, Donald, and Goofy were out of breath and tiring quickly from their numerous fights. (A/N: Details, schmetails, I'm skippin' ahead to the last CG before the credits, dammit!) "The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." Ansem faced Kingdom Hearts, and spread his arms as though worshiping the cool, shining metal of the vast doors. "Kingdom Hearts!" he shouted. "Fill me with the power of darkness..."

Sora watched in horror as one of the elegant doors opened, spewing forth billowing black smoke towards Ansem. His brain seemed to stop in horror, all thoughts frozen at the sight of the realm of darkness. All thoughts but one.

This isn't right...

"Supreme darkness," Ansem breathed reverently.

"You're wrong!" Sora shouted. Ansem turned an angry glare on him, and Sora glared right back, not giving an inch just like he hadn't given in durring the fights. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts... is light!"

And with those words and the solid conviction of a strong, pure heart behind them, Kingdom Hearts emitted radiant beams of white-hot light, engulfing everything there was to be engulfed and piercing the darkness surrounding them, offering Sora a hope he hadn't dared to feel since he stepped foot on the end of the worlds.

"Lights?" Ansem gasped as he, too, was penetrated by the brilliant radiance. "But... But why?" He screamed in shock and pain as the light swallowed him, destroying his darkness forever. Sora, Donald, and Goofy found themselves standing on solid ground, facing the partially opened doors of Kingdom Hearts. And, seeing those doors opened, Sora felt his heart fill with dread the equal of the hope that the light had awakened in it, and ran to close them.

"Come on!" he called, pressing as hard as he could against the doors. Donald and Goofy joined him, pushing with all their might, but for some reason, Goofy stopped and stared through the doors in awed surprise.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald shouted, not caring what Goofy was staring at so long as he stopped staring and helped shut the door! When Goofy didn't rejoin their efforts, Donald had a peek around the door, too.

"The Heartless?" both exclaimed at the same time, renewing their efforts on the door.

"Hurry!" Donald shouted, frantic now, but Sora was rapidly running out of energy. The doors wouldn't close!

"I can't," Sora panted, then nearly jumped out of his skin as a familiar, black gloved hand reached through and grabbed the edge of the door.

"Don't give up," Riku admonished, and the sight of his old friend, smiling once again with no trace of Ansem's darkness about him now, buoyed Sora's strength and resolve.

"Come on, Sora," Riku encouraged, using the same taunting grin he always had when he wanted Sora to do his best. "Together we can do it!"

"Okay," Sora said emphatically, now pushing against the door as though his life depended on it, which it did.

"It's hopeless!" Donald wailed as the Heartless crept closer and closer.

To everyone's surprise and delight, the Heartless began dying one by one, thanks to the efforts of someone Sora didn't recognize. He soon learned who this unexpected benefactor was.

"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy called, now as heartened as Sora was. King Mickey raised his own Keyblade, one with colorings almost exactly opposite of Sora's Kingdom Key, and faced the darkness.

"Now, Sora," Mickey said, his voice somehow lifting everyone's spirits higher, and encouraging Sora to trust him. "Let's close this door for good!"

"Close it, quick!" Donald shouted at Sora, who, strangely enough, hesitated.

"But," he said, staring forlornly at Riku, who grinned reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Sora," Mickey said in a tone that mimicked Riku's grin, "there will always be a door to the light."

"Sora," Goofy said calmly, "you can trust King Mickey."

"Now," Riku barked, his impatience mounting. "They're coming!"

Mickey looked over his shoulder and grinned at his two life-long friends.

"Donald, Goofy," he said, putting all of his feelings for them and their friendship to him into his voice, "thank you."

Everyone pushed harder, and the doors finally began to slide closed. Riku let go of the door he was pulling on, then caught Sora's eyes, prepared to make one final request.

"Take care of her," he said, knowing that Sora didn't need to be told to look after Kairi, but having to say it nonetheless. He smiled with distinct relief when Sora nodded.

"Riku!" someone shouted from behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Riku looked up, his face showing alarm, then splitting into a relieved grin. At the same time, Sora wheeled around and nearly laughed out loud when he saw a familiar, reed-thin figure running at full speed towards them, weapons belts jingling with each light step. Even with how fast she was running, though, she would never make it before the doors were completelly closed. She cocked her arm back, and threw something that glittered in Kingdom Hearts' light at Riku, calling out "Don't forget me!"

Riku caught the necklace that Mizu had thrown at him, tears springing to his eyes. He closed his fingers around the pendant, and brought his fist in to lie close to his chest, staring Mizu straight in the eyes.

"I won't forget," he promised. Mizu cleared the last few feet, reaching out a hand to him, and Riku did the same. Their fingers brushed briefly before Kindom Hearts closed for good.

"Mizu," Sora started, wanting to ask her how she had survived her wound, but she cut him off with a grin and an imperious comand.

"Lock the door, Sora," she said, calmly and evenly, but Sora still heard the command behind it. She, Donald, and Goofy stepped out of the way as Sora leapt back, aiming his Keyblade at the door, unknowingly shadowing Mickey's same movements, and locking Kingdom Hearts, hoping the whole time that he would get to see his friend again. Mizu stared at the door as it disappeared, and whispered under her breath.

"Goodbye, love."

She turned to Sora, a grin splitting her face as she draped an arm companionably around his shoulders, giving him a rough hug as she did so.

"Come on, little brother," she said warmly, grinning at him. "Let's go home." They turned from where the door had been, and Sora saw something that made him start running. Mizu held out a hand to stop Donald from following just as Goofy did the same. Donald looked up at both of them, slightly angered at this, but when he saw Mizu's smile and Goofy's grin, he knew that it wasn't any of his business.

"Kairi!" Sora called, running up to the girl he loved most.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted back. They caught each other's hands, sharing the gesture that Mizu and Riku hadn't had the time to complete, as the area began shaking ominously. The ground between them split, and it was all they could do to keep hold of each other.

"Kairi," Sora said desperatelly, wanting to get all of this out before they were separated. "Remember what you said before? I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise."

"I know you will," Kairi said, her voice thick with unshed tears. Sora was forced to let go of her, but they kept eye contact until Kairi disappeared, returning to their island home. Mizu clapped a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into her confident, too-mature face.

"You'll see her again," Mizu promised. "Your hearts are one, and no amount of magic in all the worlds will be able to keep you seperate from each other for long."

"Do you really think that?" Sora asked, not daring to let his heart fill with the hope her words had conjured. "I mean, do you think you'll ever see Riku again?" To his surprise, Mizu threw her head back and laughed out loud, the sound erupting from deep within her belly like it always had.

_And,_ Sora thought, smiling in spite of himself_, like it always will._

"That wasn't a mere trinket I gave him, you know," Mizu said, her laugh still evident in her voice. "It was a promise. A promise I made a long, long time ago."

"What promise?" Sora asked, knowing that was what she wanted him to do. She grinned at him, exactly like an older sister might.

"That no matter what, my heart will always shine bright." She laughed again, and Sora couldn't figure out why, but Mizu didn't leave him in the dark long. "But that's not the promise I gave him," she continued. "My promise to him was that we would always be together."


	11. Epilogue

"Well, what do we do now?" Donald asked.

"We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey," Sora said as though it were obvious. Mizu privatelly thought that it was.

"But, uh," Goofy asked, "where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all hung their heads, causing Mizu to laugh and clap Sora and Goofy on the back, grinning into their faces.

"We go where our hearts take us!" she said jovially. "We allow our spirits to soar, our hearts to wander, and we leave all our worries and troubles behind us, where they belong! _Alea jacta est_, and we rolled lucky number seven! Fortune favors the bold, after all!" She looked at the trio and stepped back, crossing her arms and mock-glaring at them. "C'mon, guys, I'm running out of cliches. Perk up already! We'll find them when we find them, and not before!"

"Mizu," Sora said, as though he were talking to a particularly thick five-year-old, "we don't even know where to start looking."

"_Cest la vie_, kid," Mizu said, shrugging. "We're not gonna find squat if we stand around here all day." She looked off past them a little, and a grin spread over her face. "And speaking of boots," she said, pointing to something behind them. The three turned, and saw Mickey's dog, holding a note in his mouth and wagging at them.

"Pluto?" Donald asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Hey, Pluto," Goofy called in greating. "Where have you been?"

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the letter in Pluto's mouth.

"Gawrsh, that's the king's seal," Goofy said in awe.

"Hey," Sora said, bending down to talk to Pluto directly. "Have you seen King Mickey?" Pluto turned around and began running down the road. Sora started after him, then turned and waved for his friends to follow. "Guys, let's go," he called before continuing after the dog. Mizu let out a whoop, jumped up and punched the air, then set out after Sora, her ground-eating lope swiftly closing the gap between them. Donald and Goofy followed after, and joined in the heart-felt laughs echoing up to them from Sora and Mizu.

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of this part of the fics. I must admit, they were originally supposed to be a trilogy, one for each game, but I think I like them this way better. And as this is the last chapter of the last fic for the original Kingdom Hearts, I want to thank everyone who read these and encouraged me to continue writing them. I'm sincerely sorry for the thousands upon thousands of hours of waiting for the updates you had to go through, but I hope that it was worth it. I love you all, even my flamers, and to those of you who have flamed me (and even those of you who haven't--at least not directly), I apologize for my fics not being up to your liking or standards. I also apologize to all of you for Mizu's Mary Sue-ness, and the disgusting amount of OOC. I hope I can continue to turn out (sporadically though the production may be) fics that you all enjoy, or at least read, and I hope you all continue to let me know what you think of my fics, and I would love to know what I can do to improve them if you feel that they need improving. Again, thank you for reading, and reviewing, I love you all very much, and I will try to update regularly with my other fics. Happy reading, all!


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